Anthony Greene of Top Tackle decided to kick off the New Year with a day’s fishing in Cavan accompanied by his brothers Declan and Alan….

“We have been trying to hook up with them for the last few months and the Christmas break was the perfect time to do so. Unfortunately Declan and Alan could not make the early start due to “one too many” the night before, so myself and Noel headed out by ourselves to hunt down the first monsters of the New Year and we would be joined by the lads later.

Anthony with the first pike of the day
Anthony with the first pike of the day

We started off the morning trolling lures near islands and along the reeds looking for the illusive monster but the Pike would not take to them. We headed into a small bay that looked promising and I was into a nice jack straight away. The boat was mid-turn when the jack hit the 8 inch Rainbow Trout Bass Harasser so there was a slight moment of panic when the line started to become caught around the engine. Luckily enough Noel was on the ball and quickly freed the line and fish was still on. The pike trashed about on the surface as I reeled him in to the side of the boat where Noel slipped the net under and we had our first Pike of the day. After a quick shot for the photo album it was released and swam back to the depths.

Noel caught another jack just moments after the first was returned
Noel caught another jack just moments after the first was returned

Just as I watched it swim off, Noel saw his rod bouncing quite sharply and he barely had fifteen feet of line out, he had hooked into another jack slightly bigger than the one that had just been released. He reeled in and it turned out to be a little trickier than he first expected as it made several darts under the boat, but eventually he got it in the net.

Alan poses with the 13 lb pike
Alan poses with the 13 lb pike

Later in the morning we got a phone call from the lads who were just about at the lake, so we decided to troll over and get them. Noel and I were chatting about how great it would be to land a pike on the way into the lads. Just as neared the shore, where the bottom shelved from about 26 metres to 20 metres I felt a few taps on the 8 inch Shimmy Shad– Firetiger and I was on. I underestimated the size of the fish, thinking it was another small jack until it shot up and broke from the water. I looked back and knew it had to be a double and now the pressure was on. Noel switched off the engine and we started drifting towards the shore. The pike tore line from the reel and did one more jump before ending up in the net. It provided some top class sport and we were delighted as we were just at the shore and we got a few great snaps of the 13lb Pike with Alan and Declan.

Declan's first pike
Declan's first pike

We set back off for a couple of hours and things had really gone quiet until Declan felt his rod bend. He was overcome with excitement and started reeling in. The jack kept trashing about on the surface to try and escape but Declan kept a tight line and Noel netted Declan’s first Pike. As you can see from the pictures, he was delighted with the catch.

Unfortunately Alan did not get to land his first Pike but he will joining The Top Tackle Duo again quite soon.”

Anthony Greene
Top Tackle
www.toptackle.ie
(0)85 7412767

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